A few months ago, I stumbled upon a Facebook page that I discovered was an impostor page mimicking the official page for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office. This is a compilation of three separate screenshots I took before reporting the page for review. The site has since been removed, but it serves as a resource for identifying propaganda on social media. The tactics used here were pretty basic and are relatively common.
It’s Fake: How to Tell
The “about” section for any Facebook page or group usually serves as a one stop shop for authenticating the content. On a fake page, there’s usually nothing really there. You might find an address or a website that often wont actually lead anywhere (i.e. a dead web page or a street address for an unrelated company). A fake or mimic page will have little to nothing listed as the makers are not generally interested in investing time in the developing the page. A real page will include contact information, location, mission statement, hours of operation, etc.
It’s also helpful to note that Facebook and Twitter offer a blue check mark next to the name listed on the page to show the page has been authenticated by the social network itself. This works easily for pages representing or mimicking official groups like law enforcement, celebrities, or known news outlets, but it wont work for unaffiliated propaganda pages.
The Posts
The real sheriff’s office page will generate posts about local events or accomplishments and honors of named officers with real life photos. The mimic page will be full of generalized meme images or stock photos, often accompanied with a brief emotional statement or a “like and share” tagline. Once an emotional response has been generated, the manipulation has begun. Repeated exposure to similar content can eventually distort the viewer’s overall worldview.
This page particularly was designed to push the perception of loyalty to law enforcement and unfettered trust in authority and the viewer will “like and share” in order to show they have unquestionable support for law enforcement agencies. The immediate goal of the propagandist is to encourage a worldview where the individual will be less likely to criticize actions of authority figures and will argue against accountability for authority figures. The overall goal being to encourage the person to emotionally argue their position, cut out opposing viewpoints and isolate themselves in a digital, hyper-partisan echo chamber. The stronger the person’s echo chamber, the easier they are to manipulate.
Why it Matters
Often times a person will argue their support for images like this by saying “the point still stands,” or “I just like the picture.” And its easy to argue that it is just a picture and doesn’t matter that much. The danger, however, is that repeat exposure combined with the ease with which a propagandist can flood social media platforms with this type of imagery creates a flourishing and overwhelming propagandic environment. Engaging in posts like these places the individual directly in the hands of propagandists and it can be very difficult to realize the extent that one is being manipulated.
Each step along the way, each small image engaged, each emotional response makes the viewer easier to manipulate. And the dangerous part is, it can be difficult to know that you’re even looking at propaganda.
